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User blog:Rabbitty/House Crests
I'd like to do some fan-art drawing all the different house crests. First though, I need to figure out what they look like. We know what design they all bear, but we don't know the colors for most of them. Crests Knorth Old (Gerridon's) We know all the details about the old emblem: It was a black horse on a red field. Current (Glendar's) Glendar changed the Knorth emblem to the rathorn. We don't know the colors used in this new emblem, but we can make some pretty good guesses. Rathorns are black or gray, with occasional white albinos like Death's-head. Since Glendar chose it to replace Gerridon's black horse, so I don't think he'd choose a black rathorn: it's too similar and the whole point was to make it different, and disassociate the Knorth from Gerridon. If the Knorth rathorn was an albino, like Death's-head, I think that would've been mentioned by now. Moreover, white is a bad choice artistically. All rathorns have white ivory, as well as manes and tails. Sigils are used as banners during battles and stuff, and have to look good at a distance. A white rathorn's white ivory would blend into its fur, making it look like just a horse—and again, Glendar was trying to do something that wasn't the old horse sigil. So a gray rathorn is the best choice—maybe a silvery gray like Knorth eyes? The field is black. Caineron The Caineron emblem is the only one other than Gerridon's we are told the colors of. It's a gold serpent devouring its young, on a black field. Ardeth The Ardeth emblem is a full moon. This probably dates back to an eariler time on another world, and the sky and moon there could've been any color. Artistically, though, it's fair to say that in order for it to be recongizable to us for what it is, it pretty much has to be a silver-ish moon on a black or blue background. Randir The Randir emblem is a gauntleted fist grasping the sun. Probably a left-hand gauntlet, because left is the dominant hand of most Kencyr. We don't know exactly how it's colored, but we do know gold is one of their colors because Randir guards have gold shoulder embroidery. Perhaps the sun is gold, and the gauntlet is silver-gray. Or perhaps the gauntlet is gold, and the sun is more red. We have no way of knowing what color the field is. Possibly blue, since it's a sun and the background might be the sky. Brandan The Brandan emblem is leaping flames. We know that scarlet is one of their colors because Brandan guards have scarlet shoulder embroidery. There is also reference to "crimson velvet" in a procession of Brandan. The flames might be pure scarlet, or they might have other colors, like golds, oranges, and yellows, mixed in as well. We have no way of knowing what color the field is. Jaran The Jaran emblem is a stricken tree. We aren't told anything about the colors used, but because it's a tree, proably natural color: Brown as it's wood, or gray as it's stricken. We have no way of knowing what color the field is. Coman The Coman emblem is a double-edged sword. We aren't told anything about the colors used, but maybe gray/silver because it's metal, with a diffrent color for the hilt. Through it could be artistic licenced to any color. We have no way of knowing what color the field is. On the note of the Coman, I just want to say that it's kind of weird their emblem is a double-edged sword, because double-edged is generally the assumed default for swords. (As far as I know. I admit I don't really know that much about swords.) But it's consistently phrased that way. The only meaning of that I can think of is to emphasize that the Coman themselves are metaphorically a double-edged sword. Edirr The Edirr emblem is a stooping hawk. We aren't told anything about the colors used. It might be done in natural colors (brown, some white and/or black and/or gray) so it acutally looks like a hawk... or it could be done in crazy colors so it looks more like a parrot. With the Edirr, you never know. We have no way of knowing what color the field is. Maybe blue, as it's a bird in the sky. Danior The Danior emblem is a wolf's mask, snarling. We aren't told anything about the colors used. We can't just assume it uses the colors of a real wolf: Since it's a mask, it could be artistic licenced to anything. }} Design Crests are sometimes on flags, in which context they would be sewn. (I think.) Other times they're made out of stained glass in the hall at Gothregor. In both sewing and stained glass, I think the designs would have to be made out of shapes, lines and colors, with little to no shading, and details. Moreover, crests need to be recognizable from far away, and to be shrunken down small and embroidered on scarves. That all points toward simplistic designs. (At least for me. I'm no Kendar when it comes to art.) The biggest question here is style. What style should these crests be done in. Should they look like medieval European heraldry crests? Should they emulate P. C. Hodgell's use of positive and negative space? Full of dots like aboriginal Australian art? Egyptian hieroglyphics? Aztec art? What I mean, simply, is that different cultures have different styles of art which are all pretty distinctive. Ideally, I think Kencyr art might have it's own style, but I have no idea how to do that, so... Help How should this be done? What color references have I overlooked, what design details am I not thinking of? Category:Blog posts